This invention relates in general to the field of management and more particularly to a system and method for teaching project management skills.
Effective project management is the key to completing any project successfully. Project management generally refers to the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to describe, organize, oversee, and control various project processes. Proper project management may involve developing and managing a suitable project plan, planning and defining an appropriate project scope, creating an adequate project schedule, and planning resources accordingly while simultaneously balancing budgetary constraints, quality control plans, quality assurance targets, organizational planning (including management of staff and resources), and risk controls.
Project management is considered successful when the needs of the client or of the stakeholders have been met or exceeded. A client or a stakeholder may be any person or organization to be positively or negatively effected by the project""s execution. Project management, however, is growing increasingly more complex in today""s society. In response to this growing complexity, the ability to educate persons about the fundamentals of project management and of sound decision making related to project management tasks has become increasingly difficult. Properly informing persons wishing to manage projects effectively is an arduous task in that there is a wealth of information that must be learned, much of which is extremely complicated, intricate in nature, and accordingly difficult to convey clearly to an audience. The highly active nature of project management, with a number of deliverables and activities generally happening or being executed concurrently, translates into the subject matter of project management being a difficult field of study in which to instruct.
From the foregoing, it may be appreciated by those skilled in the art that a need has arisen for an improved instruction capability for teaching project management skills. In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a project management game is provided that substantially eliminates or greatly reduces disadvantages and problems associated with conventional project management teaching techniques.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, a system for teaching project management skills is provided that includes a game board having indicia thereon. The indicia represents a plurality of tasks that collectively form a plurality of deliverables to be completed and to be managed by a plurality of participants in the project management game. The participants form one or more teams that play the project management game. A plurality of game pieces are positioned on the game board, wherein each of the game pieces represent a selected one of the teams. The project management game ends when one or more of the game pieces reach a project closedown portion of the game board. The game further includes a first die having a plurality of sides with numbers thereon. The first die may be rolled in order to indicate a number of spaces to be moved by a selected one of the game pieces. A second die is also included having a plurality of sides with numbers thereon. The second die may be rolled in order to indicate a cost value associated with one or more of the tasks.
Certain embodiments of the present invention may provide a number of technical advantages. For example, according to one embodiment of the present invention, an instruction approach is provided that allows project management to be taught to one or more persons in a game scenario environment. A project management game is provided that allows for the free flow of communications between participants in addressing concerns that are realized in typical project management scenarios. The collegial environment provided by the project management game also removes inhibition from participants in asking questions that may be inappropriate to ask in front of managers or clients in a real-world scenario. Embodiments of the present invention may enjoy some, all, or none of these advantages. Other technical advantages may be readily apparent to one skilled in the art from the following figures, description, and claims.